Crédit Agricole has announced the launch of a trial of biometric payment cards embedded with sensors from Fingerprint Cards at its Regional Bank of Touraine and Poitou, and plans to begin marketing the cards in 2020.

The cards are manufactured and customized by G+D Mobile Security, with NXP Semiconductors providing the all-in-one electronic module and embedded software, and Mastercard providing biometric specifications and support. Fingerprint Cards and NXP Semiconductors formed a partnership to develop biometric cards in 2017. Announcing its participation in the trial, Fingerprint Cards says there are now 20 pilots of contactless biometric cards using its fingerprint sensors around the world.

“This is a key milestone for us, and momentum is growing rapidly,” comments Thomas Rex, SVP of Smartcards at Fingerprints. “Awareness is growing as banks, retailers and consumers recognize the value that biometrics can offer. Banks can reduce fraud and grow trust to retain and attract customers and retailers can maximize throughput and reduced drop-outs, increasing revenues. Most importantly, consumers no longer have to compromise security in the name of convenience.”

“This is part of Crédit Agricole Group’s strategy, which has just unveiled its medium-term plan,” says Bertrand Chevallier, CEO of Crédit Agricole Payment Services, as translated by Google. “The biometric card aims to perfectly meet the needs of our customers by combining ease of use and security.”

The trial is planned for a period of six months. The card will not have a transaction amount limit, as contactless cards typically do, but customers will also be able to use the cards as they previously have, with a PIN code.

“These trials are essential to the success of the technology,” adds Thomas. “They are an opportunity to finetune biometric cards with feedback from the people that will launch and use them and is also an important step in the certification process. We’re now in the final phases before wider roll outs so it is extremely exciting that every announced biometric contactless payment card trial globally to date features our technology.”